Adding an 4G/LTE Wireless to Desktop PC for Rural Gamers

[Beaney9898]

A request for the youtube Tech Tips show. Showcase how to add a Sierra Wireless AirPrime  MC7455 or similar to a Gaming Desktop PC for gamers who live in a rural area and limited options for internet. 

[cTurtle98]

I dont think this is in the correct forum

[ethawesomee]

@SansVarnic Please move thread

 

[BubblyCharizard]

On ‎2018‎-‎06‎-‎21 at 11:06 AM, Beaney9898 said:

A request for the youtube Tech Tips show. Showcase how to add a Sierra Wireless AirPrime  MC7455 or similar to a Gaming Desktop PC for gamers who live in a rural area and limited options for internet. 

many providers offer Smart Hubs.....up here both Rogers and Telus have LTE on their hubs, but cost and cap wise they are really expensive

 

[Mark77]

You will need a miniPCI-E to PCI-E converter board.  With one caveat, and that is, it *must* support USB pass-through.   Such board must also support the SIM card.

 

My personal suggestion is the Mikrotik RB14eu.   You can find 'em on eBay for about $56, shipped from Latvia.  Make sure you get the one that suppors the SIM cards.  Shipping is remarkably quick, a week or two.    The MC7455 is not a PCI-E card, but rather, is a USB card.  You must wire the USB from the card, to an on-board USB header.

 

Once you wire the MC7455 to the USB, and set the antennas up, download the drivers from the Sierra Wireless website.    Install them.

 

When you've done this, Windows 10 should recognize it as a Cell modem, and act accordingly.  I have such a device, actually a MC7700 on my laptop, works great.  I also have a RB14eU in my server.

 

Also, you may need to purchase a microSIM to full-size SIM adapter if you use the RB14eu, as the RB14eu's SIM slots are full-sized, not microSIM as is very common these days.  These are a dollar or two online, and probably available at your local cell accessories shop as well.

 

Also, you'll need antennas to connect the MC7455 to the outside world.  Leads, and actual antennas.  The MC7455 uses u.FL.  Holes are pre-drilled for the standard u.FL connectors.  Your leads need to have sufficient length.

 

So probably $60-$80 worth of kit, + the cost of the MC7455 card. 

 

BTW, while you're at, may as well pick up another set of antennas, and a cheap WiFi card that can be put in host/AP mode, such as the Atheros AR9280, and use such to share the wireless Internet connection through the Windows 10 facility that allows for such, "Mobile Hotspot".    

[Mark77]

16 minutes ago, BubblyCharizard said:

many providers offer Smart Hubs.....up here both Rogers and Telus have LTE on their hubs, but cost and cap wise they are really expensive

 

 

I think in the US people can do AT&T unlimited plans for $80 a month or something, which is 22gb of unthrottled, and then, only throttling under certain circumstances.  An extremely viable situation for those who live in a rural area.

 

Just a warning though, latency is terrible though with 4G.  So don't plan on playing FPS.  In rural areas as well, the MC7455 may very well be overkill -- the extra bands it supports compared to the cheap MC7700's are only of interest in the cities mainly.  Look up the specs, find out what you have.  You can get a MC7700 for $20 which, on its supported LTE bands, performs just as well as the MC7455.